It was soon miles above Earth on its way to the International Space Station, where the four astronauts onboard are expected to deliver food, fuel, spare parts and other supplies.

The mission, which is expected to end July 20, caps a 30-year run for the shuttle, a program marked by triumphs and marred by tragedies and unmet expectations.

NASA began planning the shuttle before Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. At the time, President Richard Nixon envisioned NASA flying to space every other week aboard what would become the shuttle.

NASA researchers delivered on a promise to deliver a vehicle that took off like a rocket and landed like a plane. It carried heavy payloads, such as the Hubble telescope and parts needed for the space station, as well as the nation’s first female and black astronauts.

But it may be best known for two accidents — Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 — that killed 14 astronauts and forced the nation to rethink its space exploration goals.

Retired NASA researcher Wolf Elber was among dozens of Langley employees to investigate the O-ring seals that caused Challenger to disintegrate over the Atlantic Ocean. After 25 years, he was still nervous for Friday’s launch.

“There’s so many thousands of things that can wrong,” he said.

While nearly every launch went without incident, the cost of maintaining the shuttles — five were built — far exceeded NASA’s expectations. A University of Colorado researcher estimated the program’s cost in 2010 at $175 billion.

That helps explain why NASA decided to cancel the program. Still, many space enthusiasts bemoan that NASA no longer has a vehicle to take astronauts into space.

“It’s sad,” said Kenneth “Jim” Weilmuenster, a retired Langley researcher who worked in the shuttle program. “It’s a shame because there’s no replacement.”

President Barack Obama last year canceled shuttle’s successor, the Constellation program, an Apollo-like rocket system that was severely underfunded. NASA will rely on Russia to send astronauts to the space station while private companies compete to develop space taxis.

In a statement issued Friday, Obama said the move will allow NASA to focus on deep space exploration, possibly sending astronauts to Mars by the 2030s. But with the proliferation of robotics, such as the Mars rovers, some question whether astronauts are even necessary.

Ware, the retired engineer, is not among them. He believes there is no substitute for the experience of space travel.

That’s why he was happy to see Atlantis headed out of this world Friday. And, as he said, he’ll be even happier to see it return to Earth on July 20.

Asked if the occasion might prompt him to light up that old cigar, he quipped: “It wasn’t worth smoking back then.”

Daily Press reporter Cory Nealon and retired NASA Langley researcher George Ware held a discussion at 10 a.m. July 8 on the space shuttle program, which has been criticized and celebrated during the last 30 years.A Hampton resident, Ware worked on the shuttle program at Langley from 1970 until...

Donald Trump, widely believed to the be the wealthiest American ever to run for president, is nowhere among the ranks of the country's most generous citizens, according to an Associated Press review of his financial records and other government filings.

The College of DuPage needs to set aside at least $2.85 million in the coming year to cover legal fees associated with various criminal and internal investigations at school, according to a new budget analysis.